The work of André Cepeda and Eduardo Matos shows us
different options, developed by each of them over more than a decade. André
Cepeda more focused and loyal to the photographic work, and Eduardo Matos with
a research that brings into dialogue different media in a same space of
sensible experience. Although at first glance the work of both, that is, the
language, the themes and, somehow, the space of affirmation of their works,
tells us that we are facing two distinct authors, Cepeda and Matos have shared
experiences and developed common work, such as the artistic residency in 2010,
in Brussels, which resulted in the project “Kanal”.

In “Lamp’s Explanation”, exhibition which now opens at
Galeria Pedro Oliveira, the authors resume a dialogue that has accompanied them.
This time the gallery’s space is the common place where Cepeda’s pictures and Matos’
drawings and video inhabit the space in a possible dialogue. Added to this, parallel
to the exhibition, Cepeda and Matos curate a program of performance and sound:
António Olaio, Gustavo Sumpta, Luís Lopes and Vera Mota join the “Lamp’s
Explanation” with their sounds, gestures and movements.

"My friend André

I've been here dealing with my stuff, trying to figure
out what can I offer you in exchange for the pictures you have sent me. I
wonder what place is the one which your pictures thoroughly realize,
inescapable fatality it seems to me...

I do see the times are not for optimism. The dust and
the metal bring a bitter taste to my saliva.

The drizzly racket that has settled around us, in the public
life, in the streets, in the cafes, in the newspapers and television doesn’t
let me confused, but also doesn’t satisfy the wickedness that I am capable of.
That we are all capable of.

By desire, I'm confined to a physical and mental space
that does not go beyond the 12m2 of my studio in Brussels, where I
now live. On top of this situation, the white walls of my studio, which is also
my home, insinuate themselves with a nocturnal satin sheen as if it were an
issue. It seems little to me, but it is what it is, I'm not for more. As you
see, it does not foretell for big incursions.

We are friends and we have a lot in
common, but friendship is also made of silences and little violence. Therefore,
I see no reason why the exhibition that we now prepare isn’t like that as well."

Please allow me two introductory remarks before going any further. This
project, carried out with André Cepeda, is the result of our time as
artists-in-residence at Contretype in Brussels. As you can imagine, speaking on
behalf of both of us is not easy, especially because we began work on the
project back in April 2011. When we decided to do a project about the canal, we
were faced with a reality so complex and rich in terms of possible
representations that we felt that our hesitations, back-tracking and the
decisions we took as we went along were part of a context that was itself
elusive and fluid. You should be aware that these continual difficulties gave a
structure to the results of the project that form this exhibition. At first, we
intended to cover the entire length of the canal in Brussels. We started at Verbrande-Brug, to the north of the city, a sort of mythical place that no longer
exists as we found it. We came across people living in boats on the canal; we
met Little Jimmy, a man from the golden age of
rock’n’roll and spoke with someone who introduced himself as “the last captain
of the harbour”. Progress has come to their doorstep, and soon all those who
live in boats will be forced to leave. “There is no place for us anymore, no
place for dreaming, for poetry”, one of them explained.We spent some time in
the scrap car-dealers’ neighbourhood, where things that were invisible were
hinted at, and we went to the North Sea. Further south, we drove to Charleroi
while listening to the raw, melodic guitars of Neil Young and Earth, and then wandered aimlessly around
the city for a while.This experience reminded us of another trip we’d done
together along the Mississippi in the Deep South of the United States; it
reminded us of the presence of music in the landscape, places and people. A
strange feeling took hold of us: somehow some places in Belgium resemble the
United States... As they say there, the canal is an invisible boundary that
crosses and divides the city of Brussels. It is an extraordinary place of
change and experimentation in which the atmosphere and landscape metamorphose
into strata of a matrix of indecipherable meaning. Even before I went there, I
had already imagined a landscape built and manipulated by many layers of information.
At the very moment I am writing these words, huge changes are taking place all
across it, producing an energy matrix that will completely change it. The
landscape is doubly artificial, where demolition, recons­truction and
environmental redevelopment will create a cold, pragmatically modern landscape,
with an energy that will be impossible to ignore. In a way, we had created our
own expectations, ideas and visions about this landscape, and we were anxious
to simply experience the passing of time in such a huge structure: the
movement, speed, rhythm and repetition that it generated- all things that are
increasingly distancing us from nature. With time, the first images appeared.
One of André’s photographs attracted my attention and I can even say that it
changed the direction of our project. The image is of an open book on a wooden
table. Observing it closely, we see that what is printed on the pages is a map,
and looking even closer, we see that it is a map of the city of Brussels. In
the lower part of the image, we feel the texture of the floor. Also on the
table we see an empty coffee cup and, in the upper left-hand corner, another
book, probably an encyclopaedia. Although the image depicts concrete objects,
its inherent degree of abstraction was to us raw evidence that what certain
images conceal about themselves is often more significant than what we think we
can see on the surface. We know that this project misses out countless things
that we did not notice, were not aware of, or that we simply ignored. But, as
in life, looking the other way may have led us to focus on, and intensify, what
is important. Therefore, in this exhibition we have imagined a place where
images and objects, sound, video and performance, become a narrative of time
that enhance our expectations.

In “Lamp’s Explanation”, exhibition which now opens at
Galeria Pedro Oliveira, the authors resume a dialogue that has accompanied them.
This time the gallery’s space is the common place where Cepeda’s pictures and Matos’
drawings and video inhabit the space in a possible dialogue. Added to this, parallel
to the exhibition, Cepeda and Matos curate a program of performance and sound:
António Olaio, Gustavo Sumpta, Luís Lopes and Vera Mota join the “Lamp’s
Explanation” with their sounds, gestures and movements.

"My friend André

I've been here dealing with my stuff, trying to figure
out what can I offer you in exchange for the pictures you have sent me. I
wonder what place is the one which your pictures thoroughly realize,
inescapable fatality it seems to me...

I do see the times are not for optimism. The dust and
the metal bring a bitter taste to my saliva.

The drizzly racket that has settled around us, in the public
life, in the streets, in the cafes, in the newspapers and television doesn’t
let me confused, but also doesn’t satisfy the wickedness that I am capable of.
That we are all capable of.

By desire, I'm confined to a physical and mental space
that does not go beyond the 12m2 of my studio in Brussels, where I
now live. On top of this situation, the white walls of my studio, which is also
my home, insinuate themselves with a nocturnal satin sheen as if it were an
issue. It seems little to me, but it is what it is, I'm not for more. As you
see, it does not foretell for big incursions.

We are friends and we have a lot in
common, but friendship is also made of silences and little violence. Therefore,
I see no reason why the exhibition that we now prepare isn’t like that as well."